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Designing a Design System
June 2025 • 12 min read
Creating a design system is more than organizing components—it's about building a cohesive language for human-computer interaction. At Ελνή, we approach design systems through four core phases that ensure both technical robustness and design integrity.
1. Foundational Research
We begin by understanding:
- Current and future user needs through ethnographic research
- Technical constraints and performance requirements
- Cultural context and accessibility expectations
- Business goals and scalability requirements
2. Core Pattern Development
Our atomic design approach includes:
- Design tokens for spacing, color, and typography
- Primitive components (buttons, inputs) with multiple states
- Molecules combining primitives into reusable patterns
- Organisms for complex interface sections
3. Human-Centric Prototyping
We validate concepts through:
- Accessibility-first low-fidelity prototypes
- Multi-modal interaction testing (voice, gesture, touch)
- Heuristic evaluations against W3C standards
- Cross-platform compatibility testing
4. Living System Implementation
Our implementation includes:
- Open-source component libraries with version control
- Collaborative pattern documentation
- Automated quality assurance pipelines
- Continuous governance frameworks
This iterative process ensures our design systems remain adaptive to evolving technological landscapes while maintaining core usability principles. Want to explore our implementation examples? Check out Step 1 where we discuss the discovery phase in detail.